Harry Potter and the Unexpected Blessing
by JulesSC
Summary: AU. 11 year old Harry meets a new Muggle neighbor before he heads off to Hogwarts. They keep in touch and reunite the next summer. When the two pre-teens "experiment", it results in Harry being a father at the age of 13. Eventual Harry/Ginny.
1. The Girl Next Door

**Harry Potter and the Unexpected Blessing**

**Summary:** During the summer right before his first year at Hogwarts, Harry meets a new neighbor. She is his first Muggle friend. The two keep in touch throughout their separation while Harry's at Hogwarts and reconnect when he returns to Privet Drive. The maturing kids take things a little too far, resulting in a blessing Harry never thought was possible when he returned the next summer. Eventual Harry/Ginny. WARNING: Will contain slightly powerful Harry and the impossibility of Harry raising a baby while fulfilling his destiny.

**A/N:** First and foremost, let's give the credit where it's deserved: I got the idea from the fic 'Curiosity Created the Cat' by JLDANIEL. The first two chapters are loosely based on hers.

Secondly, I'm not British so if I get any slang wrong or the characters suddenly don't speak like _they're_ British, I'm sorry.

Thirdly, this WILL follow canon – for the most part – EXCEPT for the baby. Harry is slightly more powerful but I theorize that that has to do more with his paternal instinct to protect his child rather than anything else. I have no plans so far to turn Harry into an Elemental or anything like that. I might alter a few things like certain people dying/not dying but that's still, also, undecided.

Fourthly, the pairings will be canon. I know some people don't like Harry with Ginny, though I don't understand the reason behind the distaste. I, however, will be following JK Rowling's direction: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione.

Lastly, while it isn't the most common thing in the world for two not-yet-twelve-year-olds to have sex and get pregnant, it HAS happened before, sometimes to kids who were even younger. Harry having sex with a neighbor girl – both of whom were 11/12 at the time – is congruent with JLDANIEL's story and I could've changed it but I decided to borrow the concept mainly because I wanted the child to be slightly older when, in Deathly Hollows, Harry had to leave with Ron and Hermione to find the Horcruxes. The baby would be 4 then and would understand Harry's absence a little more.

So please, hold the criticisms of Harry's age at the time of the occurrence and continue on with the story. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave constructive criticisms if you have any. If not, a review telling me if you liked the story would make me smile too.

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long A/N. If you have any questions, just PM me.

Please enjoy.

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><p>Harry Potter and the Girl Next Door<p>

_June 1991_

It had been two weeks since the summer holidays had begun. For Harry, that mostly meant keeping away from his cousin Dudley and his gang of followers, and doing a lot of chores his Aunt Petunia would demand he'd do. So far, it had been a tiring fortnight filled with tired legs unable to run any faster and tired arms unable to clean any further.

So it was a relief when Uncle Vernon came home the evening before and proudly announced that he had been invited for a prestigious dinner held on a prestigious yacht owned by a prestigious new investor of the company's. It was all very prestigious. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were all going and Harry, of course, was to be left behind.

Now, this presented some problems for the Dursleys. On one hand, they didn't want to bring him with them for fear that someone might recognize his _freakiness_ and shun the Dursleys. On the other, they didn't want to leave him alone in the house where he might be free to set things on fire or break expensive things.

They had called everyone they could think of, from Vernon's sister Marge (who was sick and unable to take Harry for the day) to Mrs. Figg across the street (who was away visiting relatives).

Finally running out of options, they had very reluctantly agreed to let Harry stay home alone – with one stipulation; Harry had been given a very long list of chores to do that he had to complete by the time the Dursleys came back from their yacht dinner party. It was an impossible task, of course, considering how many things Aunt Petunia had listed down but Harry was determined to do as much as possible. Perhaps the punishment wouldn't be as severe if he did.

The Dursleys had left just after four in the afternoon to make the long trip to the pier. Harry had been told that they would be back near midnight. It had been a relief, in a way, to have the house to himself the entire day, even if he had to do chores the entire time. It meant that he was free of Aunt Petunia's withering glare, Uncle Vernon's sneers and Dudley's fist, even for a few hours.

By the time it was nearing six, Harry had washed the dishes, scrubbed every nook and cranny of the kitchen, cleared the mess Dudley had made last night in the living room, mowed the lawn and weeded the garden. Sweating hard thanks to the blazing afternoon sun, his clothes grimy with sweat and dirt, Harry grabbed a glass of iced water and sat outside in the Dursleys' backyard under the shade of a tall tree, his mind wandering aimlessly.

His thoughts had only just drifted to the school he would be going to and the horrid uniform he would be forced to wear courtesy of Aunt Petunia when he thought he heard a soft crunching noise, like someone stepping on crisp leaves, and a shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight from his overheated face. He panicked, his heart racing, and he pleaded to the universe not to let that be his aunt or uncle. Or even his cousin.

_They couldn't be back so soon, could they?_ Harry wondered to himself. _It was barely six. They'd only left two hours ago…The dinner should've just started, not ended_.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up, only to have his breath caught in his throat. He choked a little, and started coughing, blood rushing up to his already warm face and turning it an almost purple hue.

The girl who had been standing over him gasped, the curious look on her face turning into one of worry. She darted forward, dropped to her knees and started patting him on the back in an attempt to stop his coughing.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Harry nodded amidst his coughing, unable to speak. When he'd finally stopped choking on air and his saliva, he blinked away the water from his eyes and gaped at the pretty girl he had never seen before. He was half-convinced she was a figment of his imagination, created out of his boredom and loneliness.

The girl, a slim, pretty young thing, had beautiful dark emerald eyes – darker than his own, and incredibly stunning – and long, wavy dark brown hair that glinted red and gold in the sunlight. She looked to be his age, and he felt himself relaxing just a tiny bit. She didn't look menacing. In fact, with her eyes wide with concern – concern for _him_, he realized with an awed thrill – she seemed…_Kind_, even.

"I'm…fine," Harry managed to splutter out. He stared at her, his eyes as wide as saucers.

The girl shifted slightly, an almost embarrassed, shy smile on her lips. Her hand withdrew from his back and she reached out to tuck a long lock of mahogany hair behind her ear.

"I'm Sophia," she introduced herself.

She stared at him and it took him a few moments to realize why. "Oh. I-I, um, I'm Harry," he replied. "It's…Nice to meet you."

She beamed and sat down next to him, mimicking his position with her back against the tree bark, as though his stuttered words had been some sort of invitation. She then proceeded to tell him about her life – how she had originally been born in Ireland but how she had traveled all over Europe with her father who was a businessman. Her mother had died in childbirth due to some complications. She told him about how lonely she felt most of the time because her father moved them around so much that she barely had any time to make friends, let alone have any lasting friendships. She told him that she really liked English Literature and how she had read books that even older students had a hard time to understand. She spoke so long that by the time she stopped, the sun had started to set and he had learned everything about her from her mother's maiden name to her favorite ice-cream flavor and how she was ticklish the most in her toes.

Harry didn't mind. She would be the first person he'd spoken to in his whole lives (not counting a handful of teachers) who hadn't yelled at him, sneered at the sight of him and looked at him as though he was some sort of disgusting freak.

Sophia took in a deep breath and turned her head towards him, giving him a winning smile. His eyes were drawn to the dimples on her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I've been talking for hours."

Harry shrugged. "Your life's more interesting than mine," he said, and it wasn't a lie. Her tales of travels and adventures made him imagine a life like that, too. She had a way of spinning stories that made them sound almost…Magical.

She blushed. "That's not true," she protested. "What about you? Why are you sitting out here on your own?" Her eyes took in his dirt-covered clothes and his messy hair.

After hearing the stories Sophia had told about her life, Harry couldn't help feeling insecure about his own. What could he possibly tell her to make her think he would be a good friend to have? Nothing in his life was worth mentioning. According to Uncle Vernon, he wasn't worth very much, if at all. Not wanting to scare away his only friend – if he could call her his friend just yet – Harry decided not to say anything about himself to give away his less than desirable life.

Harry shrugged. "I was taking a break from my chores," he explained. "You sidetracked me."

She grimaced. "I'm sorry," she said, contrite. "I didn't mean to…"

He shook his head, not wanting her to get the wrong impression. "Oh, no, don't," he said quickly. "It was a relief. I was getting tired of scrubbing and washing and weeding."

She stared at him, bewildered and curious, and he thought it best to change the subject.

"How long have you moved to Privet Drive?" he wondered, wondering why he'd never seen her before.

She shrugged. "Just yesterday," she informed him. "We live in the house at the end of the street. I've been…Exploring."

"My grandparents live here and daddy thought it would be best if we moved in with them while we're in Surrey. He's working all day and outside of my grandparents, I had no one to talk to."

Harry smiled. "I'm glad you explored," she told her sincerely.

She giggled. "Me too," she agreed.

The sun set even further and the sky grew darker. Sophia, not wanting her grandparents to worry, decided she had to head home. "Would it be alright if I were to come by here tomorrow?" she asked, her voice shy. It was so unlike her outgoing attitude before when she'd spoken nonstop that it took Harry by surprise for a moment.

When he hesitated, Sophia nodded, a crestfallen expression on her face. "Oh. It's alright then," she said, moving to stand up. "I'll just-"

Harry's hand shot out and he grasped her arm, an almost desperate look in his eyes. He had no idea why he felt so attached to Sophia but she was the first and only friend he had ever had. He didn't want her to leave and never return, even if he knew where she lived. He didn't want her to think he didn't want her around.

"No, wait," he said. She sat back down, her eyes sad and searching. "It's not that I don't want you to come by. I do. I'd like that very much."

The sadness disappeared a little and he couldn't help but reach out and trace the soft skin under her eye gently with his finger. It was as though his hand had moved without his permission, his mind too fuzzy as his eyes took in Sophia's soft-looking skin.

"Then why…?" she wondered, her cheeks flaming at his touch.

He withdrew his hand. "I…I live with my aunt and uncle," he confessed. He deliberated on how to continue, not wanting her to catch on to his verbally abusive relatives. "They're…Not the most pleasant people. I don't think I'm allowed to have anyone over."

She frowned. "But today…?"

"They're gone for the day," he explained. "My uncle's company invited him to go on a cruise dinner. He took my aunt and cousin."

Sophia seemed outraged, though Harry didn't know why. "And left you here alone to do chores all day!" she gasped. "How awful!"

Harry smiled. "It's actually a relief," he chuckled. At her confused look, he elaborated, "I very rarely have the house to myself. I might not be able to do anything but chores but at least they're not here to yell at me…Sophia, I just don't want you to be around when they're here. They're not very nice and I'd hate for you to get hurt."

"I'm a tough girl, Harry," she assured him, placing her hand over his comfortingly.

He still looked very hesitant as he held her hand tightly, a worried crease between his eyebrows.

Sophia bit her lip, looking at Harry speculatively with her brilliant emerald eyes. "What if…What if they don't know I'm here?" she suggested tentatively.

Harry's eyes widened and the hopeful glint in his eyes told Sophia that he wasn't making up stories about his family. Her heart swelled – she was sad that he didn't have such a great family life (even though she felt as though she hardly knew her father, she knew he still loved her and her grandparents were the sweetest, most affectionate people Sophia had ever known) but she was ecstatic that he wanted to be her friend and have her around the next day.

"You mean…Hide?" he asked, just a touch of hesitance in his voice.

She nodded. "I'll come in through there," she pointed at the bushes at the very back of the backyard; it wasn't connected to the fence at the side of the yard, separating them from the neighbor's house. "We'll meet up and maybe sometimes we'll go to the park."

Her eyes lit up and her face was as animated as her voice as she spoke. Harry couldn't help but smile and agree, even if he knew that he would be in a lot of trouble if Aunt Petunia ever found out about this.

Just before it grew completely dark, Sophia rose from her spot next to Harry. Harry scrambled to his feet, following her blindly.

Sophia smiled, taking hold of Harry's hand. He felt a brush spread wildly across his cheeks. "I'll see you tomorrow, Harry," she grinned. Leaning in closer, she pressed her lips to Harry's cheek. Harry's eyes widened greatly, his cheeks growing even hotter until he felt like he had gotten terrible sunburn again like he had when he'd been forced to work the garden during the heat wave a few summers back.

Sophia blushed too though he suspected his face was redder than hers and, with a girlish giggle, she ran out of the yard and out of his sight.

Harry stared after her, dumbstruck, until a loud hoot from an owl brought him back to reality. Blinking a few times, he received a start when he realized that he had spent over an hour doing absolutely nothing but sit in his aunt's backyard, listening to Sophia talk.

He hurried back into the house, wanting to get back to his chores before his relatives returned. Even while he cleaned and scrubbed for hours, the strain causing his muscles to get sore, he couldn't wipe the huge grin on his face. That same grin got him into trouble hours later when Uncle Vernon came home, found him smiling as he was washing the windows and pulled him down to punish him for not completing all his chores.

As he was shoved back into the darkness of his cupboard, the memory of Sophia's happy smile and bright eyes brought an unbidden smile across his lips. He closed his eyes, laying down sorely on his thin, scratchy mattress.

For the first time in the past few days, as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he didn't dream of green lights and chilling screams. Instead, he dreamed of wide, friendly green eyes and the comforting touch of his very first friend.

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><p>So this marks the end of the first chapter. I'm not gonna drag out it out though I wanted to lay out the back story of Harry and Sophia. I don't think she'll be in the story for long, just for her character to serve her purpose: which is to give Harry a baby.<p>

Now, I know 12 – which is when they will 'experiment' – is an early age. And, like I've said in the opening A/N, I considered changing the age from the fic that inspired this one but I finally decided to keep it at that age: though I will essentially be rewriting the series due to the big change (Harry being a young father), I won't be rewriting every single scene and every single chapter.

What I change in the series **WILL** be rewritten but there's no need to copy everything word for word, scene for scene. However, when we **DO** get to book 7 and Harry has to go with Ron and Hermione to search for the Horcruxes, I wanted there to be emotion between Harry and his kid (he/she will be 4 by then). While 4 is still an early age, the child would understand that his/her father won't be there for a long while and it would be good father-child development, I think.

**PLEASE READ****: I do need your help, though. I want to know if you thought I should give Harry a son or twins (a boy and a girl). I definitely want Harry to have a son but a part of me wondered if he should have a daughter too. I think it would be a lot for a kid to handle (though he WOULD have full-time help from an eager and very familiar face) but I just wondered. It would be great if you guys could give me your opinion.**

Thanks for reading. Please leave a review to tell me what you thought of the first chapter and also to tell me what you think of the above question.

Love

Juliet.


	2. The Secret Friend

**Harry Potter and the Unexpected Blessing**

**Summary:** During the summer right before his first year at Hogwarts, Harry meets a new neighbor. She is his first Muggle friend. The two keep in touch throughout their separation while Harry's at Hogwarts and reconnect when he returns to Privet Drive. The maturing kids take things a little too far, resulting in a blessing Harry never thought was possible when he returned the next summer. Eventual Harry/Ginny. WARNING: Will contain slightly powerful Harry and the impossibility of Harry raising a baby while fulfilling his destiny.

**A/N:** First and foremost, let's give the credit where it's deserved: I got the idea from the fic 'Curiosity Created the Cat' by JLDANIEL.

Secondly: CONCERNING THE AGE. I know some of you have expressed concern that Harry and Sophia might be too young, or asked me if I was planning on waiting until they're older for the baby to come. I've said it before but I suppose some might've skipped my extraordinarily long A/N last chapter: Harry will be a father by the time his 13th birthday comes along. I want the child and Harry to have a stronger bond when Harry has to inevitably leave to look for the Horcruxes in book 7 and that can only happen if the child is older.

Thirdly, CONCERNING THE GENDER. Surprisingly, most who commented on what they thought Harry and Sophia should have chose twins. I already said a boy is non-negotiable (if it's an only child, it's definitely a boy) because I think, as lovely as Lily was, the HP books were mostly male-centered when it came to mentoring/Harry bonding with someone (Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore...And I have a thing for Harry/James father-son relationship stories). It's going to be a few chapters yet (4-5) before the pregnancy (which WON'T be dragged out) so there's still time if people want to contest the twins idea. I myself am not sure if I'd go down that road. As cute as twins would be, it might be too much for two 13 year olds to handle.

And lastly, I'm so sorry this took so long. I have no other explanation than I got sidetracked reading Harry/Sirius godson/godfather stories. Very addictive.

Please read on and tell me what you think of this chapter.

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><p><strong>Harry Potter and the Secret Friend<strong>

_July 1991_

Nearly a month had passed since Harry and Sophia had first struck up their friendship. To Harry's utter surprise, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon nor Dudley had found out about Sophia, but that probably had something to do with Sophia's ability to be very sneaky. She even seemed to take a lot of pleasure in sneaking around, saying that it was somewhat thrilling to be so secretive.

He couldn't help but laugh at her excitement over the matter.

It was now a sunny summer afternoon. The Dursleys had taken Dudley and his friend Piers Polkiss to the zoo for what must've been the thousandth time in their eleven years of life, in celebration of Dudley's birthday. Mrs. Figg had broken her leg but Aunt Petunia had still begged until she'd agreed to take on Harry for the day, not wanting Dudley's birthday to be "ruined" if Harry was brought along.

Harry was left at Mrs. Figg across the street for the day but once Mrs. Figg had fallen asleep, Harry had tentatively snuck out of the house, ran to the end of the street, hid behind a large tree by Sophia's grandparents' lawn and waited until she saw him. Then they had ran back to Mrs. Figg's yard, circled to her backyard (where they had a view of Mrs. Figg snoring away) and proceeded straight for the old rickety lone swing.

Harry waited until Sophia had sat down on the swing, her fingers curled around the metal chain link on either side of her, before he grasped the metal ropes and gently began pushing her back and forth.

"Faster, Harry!" she called out, smiling so broadly that it almost hurt her face. Sophia let out a girlish giggle as wind whipped her hair back violently from her face.

Harry continued pushing her a few times on the swings before Sophia hopped off the seat – on a particularly fast and high swing, too, scaring the daylights out of him – twirled around, snatched his hand and dragged him to a partially shaded area nearby. They laid down on the grassy ground, so close side by side that their elbows touched as they each folded their hands on their stomachs.

They gazed up at the cloudy sky, their still innocent minds making patterns in the fluffy clouds, pointing out dogs and angels and smiling faces in the sky.

They fell silent after a while and Harry sighed, feeling a strange sense of contentment that he had never felt before in his life except for whenever Sophia was around.

"Harry?" Sophia's soft voice broke through the silence.

"Mm?"

"I'm happy you're my friend, even if we have to hide."

His eyes snapped open and he turned his head to the side, his cheek grazing the soft, slightly parched grass. The admittance had been so out of the blue that it had caught him off guard. His eyes widened as he caught her emerald gaze, the intensity in them burning them a darker color than usual.

Blushing, he offered her a shy smile and agreed, "Me too."

Soft giggles made their way past their lips and they shyly averted their gaze. An almost awkward silence filled the air between them.

A few seconds trickled by slowly before Sophia lifted her arm, pointed at a random cloud and murmured, "Look, Harry…That's a lawnmower."

He smiled, tucking one arm behind his head and argued with her playfully that it looked more like a large cat to him.

A small scream from his right made him startle and he shot upright. Sophia was sitting up, too, but her face was scrunched up in horror. Her body was shaking in fear and she seemed frozen, her green eyes fixed on the grass a few feet away from them. Harry followed her gaze and was shocked to see an ominous looking black snake slithering forward, one inch at a time. Harry couldn't see how big it was because some of its body was coiled, but could see enough to know that it wasn't a thin, tiny, harmless snake.

Without thinking, Harry lunged forward, grabbed Sophia and dragged her behind him even as they both continued sitting on the ground – Harry didn't think his legs couldn't support his weight if he stood now and perhaps Sophia thought the same since she wasn't standing up and running away.

Unfortunately, his actions seemed to aggravate the snake. It reared its head, jaw dropping and fangs exposed as it hissed dangerously. Its body uncoiled and its head snapped forward in a mock bite.

Harry threw his arm up to shield himself and Sophia. On instinct, he yelled out, "Stop!"

To his surprise, the snake did stop. It stared at him, black, beady eyes fixed on him.

Following a crazy theory that the snake might understand him, he continued, his voice still panicked to his ears, "Don't touch her!"

The snake relaxed, its body no longer poised to attack, and its head lowered to the grassy ground.

Then, as though this was normal, the snake began to speak, "You ssspeak?"

Harry's jaw dropped.

Even with the hissing noise that accompanied the words, he could understand it plainly – how could he not? That snake had spoken _English_. Forget that. The snake had _spoken_, period.

_Maybe it's some sort of magical snake_, he thought wildly. He banished that thought immediately because, as Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had screeched repeatedly, magic didn't exist.

"So do you," Harry retorted, gaping at the snake.

He must've looked really funny and, in the back of his mind somewhere, he hoped Sophia didn't think this too strange and ran off never wanting to speak to him again. Harry almost smiled. _I could always just befriend the magic snake_, he thought dryly.

"Are you magic?" he asked the snake, feeling rather foolish as he did.

The snake blinked and Harry thought if it could smirk, it probably would have. "I am not the one who ssspeaksss a language mortalsss ssshould not know," the snake hissed, though Harry couldn't detect malice in its voice. "What are you?"

Harry started, surprised. "Me?" he wondered aloud. "I'm just a boy."

"Imposssible."

Harry blinked.

"We sssnakesss…We do not harm Sssspeakerssss," the snake finally said. "If ssshe isss your mate, I will leave her be."

Harry blushed wildly at the word 'mate' but he supposed he couldn't hold it against the snake; after all, what do snakes know about how people worked?

The snake took one last, long look at Harry before turning and slinking away towards the forest of overgrown trees and bushes behind Mrs. Figg's backyard. Harry kept a sharp eye out for the shiny, black serpent and once he was absolutely sure the snake was no longer nearby, he turned to face Sophia.

His mouth was already open, the words already out to apologize to her for what the snake had called her. _Mate_.

"Sophia, I'm so…" he trailed off, the words stuck in his throat as he caught the look on Sophia's face.

Her skin was unusually pale, having lost the peachy rosiness of her cheeks. Her jaw was dropped and her eyes were as big and round as saucers. She was breathing heavily, as though she was having a panic attack, and she stared at him as though she had never seen something more peculiar than him.

Then he remembered.

He had _spoken_. To a _snake_.In front of Sophia.

He had been…Weird. And abnormal.

His heart started to race.

"Sophia…" he said, desperation in his voice even as he was at a loss for how to continue.

They stared at each other for a few long moments before Sophia let out a breath, the sound coming out loud as though she had been holding her breath for a long time.

Her eyes never wavering from his, she accused, "You spoke to a snake."

Harry frowned and nodded. "I did," he agreed because as strange and unbelievable as it was, it had happened. He was sure of it. He even had a witness.

"How?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure," he answered truthfully. At her scoff, he hurried to assure her, "I swear I don't. It just…Happened. But surely you realize there's something odd about that snake."

When she only looked at him in confusion, he elaborated even though he felt he needn't have to.

"The snake…It spoke," he stated out the obvious.

Sophia's eyebrows furrowed together. "How do you mean?" she wondered.

Harry stared at her. "Wha…" he trailed off, bewildered. "You were _there_, Sophia! The snake could _speak_!"

Sophia's eyebrows rose up to her hairline. "No, Harry," she argued. Her voice was gentler, kinder, now that her panic seemed to be ceasing but she looked as though she considered him mentally ill. "The snake could _hiss_ – and so did you."

"Huh?"

"The snake," Sophia repeated. "It was coming forward and you just…You started hissing. It stopped moving, then you went on hissing. I think…"

And here, she licked her dry lips, hesitating as though worried her sanity might be called into question.

"I think it understood you."

Harry gaped at her. "I…Sophia, I was speaking English," he said, but his voice wavered uncertainly. "The snake was too…Wasn't I?"

Sophia shook her head.

He sat back, his body feeling as numb as his mind now. How could he have spoken a whole different language - a snake language, at that, something other people surely didn't know how to speak (he remembered the snake's words now, about how "mortals" shouldn't be able to communicate with snakes) - without even realizing it?

Sophia stared at him and he stared back, both unsure of what to do. Finally, after what felt like forever filled with silence and uncertain stares, Sophia finally spoke.

"You told the snake to go away?"

Harry nodded, clearing his tight throat so he could speak. "I told it to leave you alone," his voice sounded funny to his ears.

Sophia seemed like she was searching for something as she looked into his eyes. Her emerald eyes seemed so intense that he daren't look away.

Then, a miracle happened.

Her body relaxed, the tension seeming to ebb away into nothingness, and her lips formed a smile. It wasn't her usual cheerful, playful smile but it was genuine and friendly all the same.

"Okay."

He blinked. "Okay?" he repeated.

She nodded. "And…thank you," she added.

She paused, as though she was deliberating on something, then in a move so fast he almost missed it, she darted forward, briefly surrounding him in mahogany hair and the sweet scent of roses and vanilla. Her soft lips pressed against his cheek, warming it up instantly until it burned hotter than any sunburn he'd ever gotten.

He couldn't meet her eyes when she pulled away as he continued to blush, stuttering out, "Um…Y-you're welcome."

She giggled a little and he peeked up at her to see her cheeks were flaming red, too. That made him feel better somewhat.

An awkward silence followed until Sophia leapt up and said cheerfully, "Come on, Harry. Let's go to the park."

Harry brightened up. Not only had Sophia thanked him and kissed him, she still seemed as though she wanted to be his friend. He wanted to ask her if she was sure but he didn't want to push his luck and have her realize that perhaps the Dursleys were right and he was too freaky to be friends with.

"Maybe we can get an ice-cream," Sophia continued as she grabbed Harry's hands and pulled him to his feet.

Harry had very little money on him – the Dursleys only ever gave him a penny each month until he'd turned six, but Mrs. Figg gave him some birthday money each year; it wasn't a lot, just a ten pound each year, but it always felt like he was the richest boy in the world when she did so. He saved every penny, not wanting to spend it on frivolous things when he feared his relatives might kick him out one day and he'd be left homeless and penniless, and he kept the money hidden, especially from Dudley and his friends, not wanting it taken away from him.

But he _did_ have some he could spare for two ice-creams. He figured, he owned Sophia an ice-cream for wanting to hang around him even after such a terrifying ordeal.

Sophia was starting to walk away, talking about a contest to see who wouldn't get sick hanging upside down on the monkey bars after eating ice-cream, when Harry reached out and took her arm. She turned her head to look at him questioningly, and looked worried when she saw his frown.

"Sophia…I'm glad that you're not scared of me…" he began, stuttering so much that his words felt broken in places.

Sophia's eyebrows drew together. "Why would I be scared of you?" she wondered.

Harry blinked. "The snake," he said, as though this should explain everything.

"It wasn't normal," Sophia conceded. "But that just makes you even more special, doesn't it?"

Her smile was bright and brilliant, but it only cheered him up a little.

"My relatives won't think that," he warned. "They'd think it weird and…I-I'd get in trouble…"

Sophia's eyes lit up in understanding.

She had never met Mr. and Mrs. Dursley face-to-face but she had heard their screeches while she hid in their backyard, waiting for her friend, enough times to know how horrible they were. She had seen what a monstrosity their son was when she'd spied him in the park, bullying smaller children (which, in Dudley Dursley's case, were everyone below the age of thirteen). And she knew what terrible guardians the Dursleys made, seeing how they treated Harry like a slave when she knew he was the sweetest boy ever and would've never done anything to warrant such treatment.

Harry's nervousness made more sense to her now. He was worried his relatives might find out and he would be punished for something that made him special and unique and brave. And he just might – _if_ they ever found out.

"Silly boy," she laughed, taking his hand and squeezing it comfortingly. "Like I'd ever tell."

He smiled at her hopefully. "You mean it?"

She raised her other hand, offering him her pinky finger. "I solemnly swear," she said in a playfully serious voice.

He laughed but hooked his pinky with hers.

"Thanks, Sophia," he said, and the warmth in his voice made her blush again.

To distract him from noticing, she grinned mischievously and said, "Race you!" before shooting off like a bullet. "Last one there buys the ice-cream!" she threw over her shoulder, laughing at Harry's indignant yell as he chased after her.

* * *

><p>I know I said I won't be doing every chapter of every book – and I won't – but I needed to lay some foundation of Harry and Sophia's friendship.<p>

I think a few comments about Sophia had me thinking about what I'd originally planned for her and made me reconsider. I'm pretty sure she's going to be in this story for longer than I initially thought she would, so these beginning stages of their friendship was important for me to portray.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry it took so long. Please feel free to leave a line or two to tell me what you thought of it.

Thanks so much to everyone who had read and reviewed last chapter. I feel very blessed.

Love

Juliet.


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